Miniatures 28

IN this occasional series I am going through my decisive games of 20 moves or fewer.

Spanton (147 BCF) - William Upton (?)

Highbury (London) Rapid 1990

Nimzowitsch Defence

1.e4 Nc6 2.d4 Nf6?!

There are 200 examples of this position in ChessBase's 2026 Mega database, but Black already has a lost game, according to Stockfish17 and Dragon1

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3.Nc3!?

There seems no good reason not to play 3.d5.
3...d5 4.e5

This is a relatively mainstream position, reached 897 times in Mega26

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4...Bg4??

Normal is 4...Nd7, as played by Magnus Carlsen, although Edgar Colle back in 1925 preferred 4...Ng8.

5.f3 Bh5 6.exf6 gxf6 7.Bd3 Bh6?? 8.Bxh6 Nxd4 9.Bb5+ Qd7?? 10.Bxd7+ Kxd7 11.Qxd4 Rag8!? 12.Qxd5+ Ke8 13.0-0-0 e6 14.Qd8#

LESSON: for once I am lost for words.